Arc, Who Goes There?
by Oni Mathier
Summary: Sari goes missing and it's up to the Autobots to find her and...save her? Sometimes things aren't always as they seem. Just ask Arc.
1. In which Sari broods

**Arc, Who Goes There? **(Part 1)

Transformers (Animated) Verse  
Rating: G  
Characters: Sari, Prowl & Co.

Disclaimers: I DO NOT OWN TRANSFORMERS! gosh.

_A/N: Takes place after "Transwarped" in Season 3 of TFA. After that...er...artistic license anyone?_

* * *

Sari slumped to the cold, concrete floor wearily as she watched Prowl yet again perform a series of smoothly executed movements that should have not been possible for a solid metal being. She felt a deep sigh start in her chest and did her best to repress it.

She was tired. She was cold. And she wanted nothing more than to climb into bed and forget the cyberninja's stupid katas.

As if summoned by her thoughts, a pair of black and gold-lined pedes blocked her wonderfully dull view of the ground. With a wince, she chanced a glance upward and was met with a frown from her teacher.

"Sari, you must pay full attention if you ever hope to grow as a warrior." Prowl reprimanded.

Sari finally gave into the heavy sigh that she had been holding back. "I know, Prowl, but this really isn't getting me anywhere."

The thin line of the ninjabot's mouth turned down slightly. "I realize you may be frustrated, but in order to gain mastery of your upgrades you must first learn control over yourself. That will take time, hard work and discipline."

Sari felt more than saw Optimus shift along the wall to her right. "Prowl makes a good point, Sari. We are only doing what will be best for you, both now and in the future."

"And help you stay out of trouble." Ratchet couldn't help, but add in his grumbling sort of way. "We don't want you using those thing-a-ma-bobs again and taking out half the city."

Sari crossed her arms protectively over her chest and frowned to match the medic. Thankfully Bumblebee and Bulkhead were out on patrol or else she knew they would be chiming in as well. She loved them both to death, heck, she loved all of the Autobots, but lately they had been overwhelming. There seemed to be this joint campaign going on at the Autobot's base to "Teach Sari Control."

She felt a surge of anger at that thought, probably from her new 'teenage hormones', but she did not care anymore. Enough was enough.

"Yeah, well nobody has stopped to ask what I want or how I feel about all of this." The last was directed at Prowl.

Expressionless faceplates met her statement. Frustrated at the lack of reaction, she threw her hands up in the air. "God! You know, whatever. I am done with your guys' training. I have much better things to do right now. Like sleep!"

With one last, parting stomp of one small, yellow boot, the techno-organic turned smartly on her heel and marched out the front door.

Prowl gave an exasperated sigh, hand pressed to his faceplates. As if preparing for a solo battle with the Decepticons, he squared his shoulders and prepared to coerce the small femme back into the warehouse.

A large, blue servo landed on his shoulder plate before his was able to get more than a few steps. "Perhaps you should give her some space, Prowl." The young Prime spoke soothingly, "We have been expecting a lot out of Sari. I'm sure a small break won't cause too much harm."

The ninjabot gave a sigh before relenting. "Fine, Optimus. But we start again first thing tomorrow morning."

Smiling broadly, the Prime nodded once before releasing the mech's shoulder and making his way out of the training room. Ratchet gave him one last look as well before muttering to himself about 'young punks' and following him.

* * *

Sari gave a few more stomps of her boots as she stepped outside the Autobot's base. The action helped to release some of her frustration and make her feel a little better. Looking out to the horizon, she could see the sun was already setting over the city. Each of her breaths came out as little, white puffs of mist. The winter days were getting colder and the nights were even worse.

_Of course I end up spending the WHOLE day training! Thanks, Prowl. Ever heard of taking it easy? _

Her less than pleasant thoughts towards Prowl were cut off abruptly by a sharp turn that her insides decided to take. The young techno organic put a small hand to her chest. Sari found that lately her body seemed to manifest physical pains to go along with how she was feeling. Her new modifications had done strange things to her mind and her emotions, almost creating a division at times. She found that she would boil over quickly when upset, but only a few minutes later all of that anger would just disappear. The same thing if she was really happy or sad. It was just...strange.

A small frown creased her mouth as Sari put her head down and headed slowly away from the Autobot base. Some snow had stuck from the night before and was now making squelching sounds under her bright, rubber soles. A quick glance back told her that no one was following her, although her sensors (_and wasn't that just weird_) would have easily told her the same. It was just another adjustment that she was having to make. She wished that there was someone that she could talk to about all of the million and one things that her upgrades had done to her, but who?

Squishy step-by-step, the tiny femme made her way to an old oak tree that sat, empty of all leaves, a few lots down. Stopping at the base, Sari cast a look up to the tree's top. Whereas the large tree always seemed almost matronly and welcoming to her with its thick, strong limbs and large stature, the bare limbs just seemed to echo Sari's loneliness. She felt more separated now from her Autobot friends than she had when she was no more than a simple, little human child playing hero in their world.

With a deep sigh that she felt all the way to the soles of her feet, the dark-skinned girl leaned wearily against the huge oak and stared blankly at the brisk evening sky of Detroit. The rough and uneven push of bark against her back could be felt through the thin backing of her jacket, but it did not even register to her. The quiet left way too much room for her thoughts, leaving her with nothing to think about, but her life, her friends...just..._everything_.

A deep blue blanket was beginning to overtake the sky when Sari finally emerged from her personal reflection. Realizing that she had run out of light and not wanting to risk a search party she straightened up to head back in. A creak from above reached her audios and a scattering of dead leaves swirling down upon her made the small femme look up instinctually.

Only to let out a startled scream that abruptly cut off, leaving only eerie silence and a lonely tree.

_A/N - Love it? Hate it? Let me know, please!_


	2. In which Prowl worries

**Arc, Who Goes There?**(Part 2)

Transformers (Animated) Verse  
Rating: G  
Characters: Sari, Prowl & Co.

_Disclaimer: I do not own Prowl and the rest of the characters depicted here__, nor do I make any moola writing this stuff. _

_

* * *

_

Prowl's lips pressed into a thin line as he stood statuesque in the middle of the Autobot's living room. The flickering of lights along his chassis and the chattering of noise from behind told of the other Autobots partaking in their usual nightly ritual of sitcom watching. All, save one other. Their young Prime stood quietly by the communication hub, listening into police frequencies, news and anything else that their cobbled-together equipment could pick up.

But the ninjabot was concerned with none of this. His young charge had yet to return from her earlier temper tantrum, which normally would not be too much of a cause for alarm. With it being well after dark, though, it was becoming more and more of a concern to the stoic bot. There always was the chance that she had decided to return to Sumdac Tower without telling them, but recently their newest Autobot was spending less and less time at her home and more time at the Autobots'.

Clearing his vocalizer to draw the attention of the other bots, Prowl spoke once he was sure that he had all optics on him. "Sari has not returned yet, so I am going to go find her."

"Hey! Wait up. I'm coming too!" Bumblebee yelled as he propelled himself over the back of their 'couch' and jogged quickly to catch up with the ninjabot. There was a hasty "Watch it!" from Ratchet as the yellow bot's move nearly clipped his right chevron to match his left and the smaller bot was quite suddenly at Prowl's side.

Shaking his black helm at his teammate's obliviousness, the ninjabot turned and made his way outside with Bumblebee trailing close behind. The air had grown quite crisp as day gave way to night, but the two Autobots did not register the temperature much save for an unconscious adjustment of their systems' internal temperature.

The taller of the two gazed quietly around the landscape and once he was sure there were no immediate signs of Sari's presence, he turned to the yellow bot.

"Bumblebee. Scout out the area south of the plant. Look for any signs of Sari within a five mile radius."

"And what are you gonna' do?"

"I will complete the initial perimeter scan by searching the northern side of the plant. Report in to me if you find anything." He informed the smaller bot coolly.

The stealth mech was about to take off when Bumblebee's unsure voice stopped him.

"You don't think anything's happened to Sari, right?"

Not turning, Prowl remained silent for a moment.

"I am not sure, but I hope that I am simply overreacting." This was said with as much compassion as the taciturn bot could allow himself to show. With that the ninjabot took off to begin his search, leaving the other bot to stare after him.

"I hope you're right." Bumblebee mumbled softly. Giving one last sad look around, he transformed to his speedier alt mode and headed off in the opposite direction.

* * *

Something cold kissed Sari's forehead. Her eyelids felt heavy and awareness was slow to come. The same coolness touched her lightly again and she realized that she had been drifting off. Struggling against fatigue the red-haired girl was able to power up her optics. Her vision seemed to teeter and flicker before finally focusing and then everything came into clarity.

Her stabilizers told her that she was flat on her back and the chemosensors lining her nose picked up the scents of water, dirt, stone and humidity. The ceiling that she was apparently staring at was barely visible in the dark and she could just make out some kind of stone protrusions that seemed to drop towards her like teeth. Another few moments and her processors were at full speed. The protrusions became recognizable as stalactites (sometimes her home schooling lessons did pay off) and she hazily watched a drop slowly slide down a smooth side before reaching the end of its path and freefalling—hitting her smack in the middle of her head.

Frowning, Sari eased herself into a sitting position as she used the back of her sleeve to wipe the moisture off. Her optics thankfully gave off a faint blue light, but they only served to illuminate the space a few feet or less in front of her face. Taking in the rest of the space she was in, Sari realized that this had to be a cave of some sort—and a deep one at that. The air smelled damp and kind of musky. A quick, but careful walk around the space revealed no entrance or exit. There was just a still lake that lapped lazily at one side of her natural room while the other was encased in solid stone.

Now completely confused, the dark skinned teenager tried to make sense of what had happened to her. She had been by her favorite tree, angsting over what fate had thrown at her when it felt like something had plugged into the back of her neck. Then she was waking here. Weird. Could it be Decepticons? Possible, but unlikely. _They usually like to keep their bargaining tools closer_, she couldn't help, but bitterly think. That didn't mean that there weren't a whole slew of people who wouldn't benefit from kidnapping her. Either because of who her father (_…er…half-father?_) was or because of her connection to the Autobots.

Frustrated, the techno-organic picked up a loose stone and threw it out as far as she could into the body of dark water. The loud 'plop' it made felt satisfying. Before she could be too pleased, though, the water broke a few yards from shore. Horrified, Sari watched as a sharp, silver snout with a set of glowing crimson eyes emerged from the lake. The canine-like head was huge—at least as big as she—and as more of the creature became visible the small femme could do little more than slowly back away from the shoreline.

The beast was difficult to completely see in the midnight black of the cavern, but she could tell that it stood on four long legs much taller than her and had very sharp features. She could even hear the faint whine of servos over the rapid pulse of her own spark as the being began making its way out of the water.

Mesmerized by the glowing orbs that seemed to levitate towards her, Sari failed to notice a dip in the ground behind her and soon found herself landing hard on her backside. Grimacing in pain she looked up and could only open her mouth to scream.

* * *

Prowl slowly made his way back to their original starting point and couldn't hold back a deep sigh. He had started from this point multiple times slowly working through the grid that he had built in his processor, but had yet to turn up anything related to his young charge. He was worried for her. The small organic and now techno-organic had found a place in his spark that he had not known still existed. She was so precious to him—a sparkling that had looked up to him with such hope in her eyes and always a bright smile to welcome him.

He did not mean to be as harsh as it was evident that he had been towards her earlier during their practice. He merely wished for her to be able to defend herself from their much stronger foes, especially if he could not be there to protect her. Like he had failed to protect her now.

No. He could not think this way. He had to believe that she was okay and only blowing off her anger at him somewhere. Prowl could not bear it otherwise.

Stopping near the base of a tree that the dark-plated mech had seen Sari hanging around multiple times in the past, he hadn't realized how far his pedes had carried him. The planet's frozen precipitation had fallen lightly throughout the night and the powder now clung loosely to everything. Everything, except for a small space near the base of the thick-trunked tree that had been shielded from the slight wind.

There, firmly imprinted into the ground was a recent imprint of Sari's boot. Quickly kneeling by the cradle of roots, the ninjabot press his slender digits to the print to try to estimate how long since it had been put there. Visor tilting up, he scanned the tree from base to treetop looking for any further clues. Near the 'Y' of the main limbs, he spotted a set of grooves and indentations strangely familiar to him. Visor widening in realization Prowl stood up and in one quick movement, had scaled to the tree to the highest branch that would hold his weight. He scanned the bark rapidly and found similar scrapes and impressions there as well.

Marks that were so familiar to him because (try as he might) even with his extensive training Prowl still left evidence of his weighty form on the fragile organic trees.

* * *

Her cry of fear had barely left her vocalizer when a new form sleekly broke through the water where the first had originally come from. This one walked on two legs and had to duck under the stone ceiling, as they were so tall.

"Hey, cool your afterburners girlie. It's not like he's going to eat you or something."

Sari could only blink as the new form casually passed the monster from the black lagoon, but not before casually patting it on the head as she strolled past. That voice had a lower timber, but still sounded smooth and feminine.

Processors doing flip flops, the young girl realized that the dark was not helping her situation any. Maybe she could find a way to create light or at least see a little further than her own optic light. As soon as she thought this, something switched in her mind and the caverns suddenly came into crystal clear resolution, bathed in a greenish hue.

_Night vision. Huh. That's cool._

Focusing back on her captors, Sari could now see that the first was definitely a mechanical being, but shaped similar to a wolf—a really BIG wolf. The other was definitely a tall bot, but very lanky in form. Optics leading up to the top where the other bot's helm was, she noticed a gold visor that curved across the faceplates. Faceplates that were almost heart-shaped and had a pair of thicker lip plates and a delicate, pert nose set high. A female Transformer?

What did Optimus call them…femmes?

"Don't worry about Fang here, he's not really interested in munching on organics."

This was said very matter-of-factly, and to further emphasize the point 'Fang' padded right by her and found a spot along the back of the cave to curl up on. Now Sari was _really_ confused. Throwing a questioning look at the odd femme, the other simply gave a lopsided grin and shrugged.

"Now that that's settled…"

The tall Cybertronian proceeded to set herself right in front of the small girl and plopped right down. Leaning forward to get a good look at the small organic, the femme seemed to not care for inconsequential things like 'personal space.' Now sitting, the bot's helm was about level with the red-haired girl as she stood there frozen.

It actually gave Sari a good chance to look over the femme's features without her night vision (since she was disturbingly close enough). The face was a silvery grey and she had a strange turban-like teal helm with rounded audios – each with a gold antenna – framing her faceplates.

"Sorry for the whole "kidnap and scare you" thingy."

"Huh?" Startled, Sari could not come up with a wittier reply.

"You know? I feel bad for scaring you kid and then to top it all off you onlined before me and Fang got back."

The femme was frowning now, but almost more of a pout? She seemed to truly be sorry and yet Sari got the feeling that she would have no problem turning around and doing the same thing again.

Suddenly chipper, the lanky femme popped back from her inspection and declared brightly, "I'm Arc! What's your designation?"

The techno-organic stared blankly at the large outstretched servo that mimicked a typical human introduction. The other wilted slightly when all she got was a vacant stare.

"…Or does your kind not have individual designations?"

Hesitantly, the smaller femme placed her equally small hand inside the teal servo before her and slender silver digits delicately wrapped around it.

"My name's Sari."

"Stellar. So, what are you? I haven't met any organics that are mechanoid too since I have been here. Are you a new model? Do they make mech versions of your kind as well?"

"Woah, woah. Hold up! I am an Earthling…just…not a normal kind." Here Sari frowned to herself as she tried to think of how to define herself. Especially to a sentient robot that could easily see right through her via various scans, etc.

"Ooohhh. Well, that works too. It's strange, though. The whole reason that I nabbed you was because you were throwing this weird Cybertronian energy signature all over the grid. I thought that I was picking up on my planet's All Spark or something."

"Oh, really? What's that?" The techno-organic femme did her best to be as nonchalant as possible. Friendly or not, she knew better than to tell strange (_and boy was this femme strange!_) Transformers about the whereabouts of the All Spark and the fact that she had recently had an upgrade courtesy of it.

"Oh it's the very spark of my home planet. The things went MIA eons ago, but every now and again things turn up that have "All Spark" written all over it." Rubbing her chin in thought, Arc looked Sari over once more. "Are you sure you haven't had a recent run-in with a big, shiny star-like thing?" One part of the femme's golden visor narrowed in suspicion.

"Can't say that I have. So…uhm…what are you doing here on Earth?"

Leaning closer conspiratorially, Arc said lowly as if sharing a big secret, "Between you and me, I am here for more nefarious purposes. But I saw you and it was like 'Ooh, _shiny_!' And here we are!"

The femme seemed oddly joyous of the stated fact if her broad smile was anything to go by. If anything, the femme had to be the oddest Cybertronian that Sari had ever met and that included the three-faced/three personality Blitzwing. Sari could do little more than stare at the multi-colored bot with a pole-axed expression on her face as she tried to come up with a suitable reply.

"That is the strangest thing that I have ever heard. Don't you have a better reason for grabbing me? Do you like, work for the Decepticons or something? I don't see an Autobot symbol on you." Sari's bright blue optics narrowed in suspicion at the lanky bot.

Arc shrugged one gold shoulder nonchalantly before replying, "I'm not really either, to tell you the truth…just drifting along the currents somewhere in the middle."

The femme just seemed to enjoy being vague and mysterious and Sari was beginning to get a just a little frustrated with the entire situation.

"Well, if that's the case, then why don't you just let me go?"

"Oh, I will. I just want to be sure that I don't have any further use for you. A half techie-organic is definitely an out-of-this-universe find. I'm sure that there would be more than a few bots interested in knowing about you."

Sari paled slightly before her emotions turned sharply and anger overwhelmed everything, replacing her fear. Straightening up to her full height (which really wasn't much standing next to a Cybertronian) she shouted at her kidnapper.

"I am not some kind of sideshow freak! Why can't everyone just leave me ALONE?"

With that she crossed her arms and abruptly turned away, but not before she could stop tears from building up and falling from her optics. It just wasn't fair. All she wanted was to be accepted for who she was, but no matter where she went and no matter who she was, Sari never fit in.

The cavern was silent, save for her choked back sobs and the occasional tinkle of droplets falling from the ceiling to the crystal floor.

She heard the sound of gears working behind her and then a warm servo curved around her body before gently scooping the techno-organic's small frame up and bringing her closer to the now silent femme. Not looking up and doing her best to hide her face, Sari did not notice the considering look that Arc was giving her. Expression soft the femme faintly smiled at her.

"You haven't had the easiest life, have you girl?"

Sari sniffed a few times more before apprehensively meeting the other bot's visor.

"Must be rough for you—all on your own like this."

"I'm not completely on my own. The Autobots…they're my friends and they try to take care of me and be there for me, it's just…just that…"

"…Just that they don't really get you, eh? You're probably with a bunch of mechs too, huh? Yeah, they're not the most…ah…emotionally adept and they never seem to really get us femmes."

The teal and gold femme's visor flickered in an imitation of a wink and Sari found herself relaxing in the larger bot's servo.

"Yeah. And they keep telling me that they know what's best and what I should be doing, but they never ask me what I _want_ to be doing. It's just not fair."

"Well, maybe you need to stand up for yourself a little, girl. Tell them when you've had enough for the day and trust that they will learn to respect you and your wishes. At the same time, you need to give a little in understanding them."

Sari scrubbed an arm across her face. Feeling calmer and a tad bit safer now, she took a moment to get a good look at the rest of her 'captor.' The bot was definitely a femme—curvy in the hips and chest like the few other femmes she had encountered (even though they were Decepticon femmes), but slender and probably only around Prowl's height at the most when standing. Her alt mode also appeared to be some kind of motorcycle as well since Sari could only spot two wheels on her ankles and her chestplate resembled some kind of Asian-model cycle's front end.

The smaller femme started as she abruptly realized that the seated position that Arc had adopted was eerily similar to her the meditation pose of someone else she knew.

Without thinking, she blurted out, "Are you a ninjabot?"

Arc smiled serenely before answering, "Perhaps. Once upon a time."

* * *

_A/N: A-ha! And that's a wrap for this chapter. So…what do you think? Hopefully still somewhat interesting, I hope…_

_If anyone's curious about what Arc and Fang look like, I have some sketchies of them in my DeviantArt account under "laMalvagita"._

_Special thanks and much luv to VeekaIzhanez, Yoog, Koi, my-dear-fangirl, Crossblade's Switch and taranodongirl for their reviews. They definitely made this writer happy. ^_^_


	3. In which Arc plots

**Arc, Who Goes There?**(Part 3)

Transformers (Animated) Verse  
Rating: G  
Characters: Sari, Arc & Prowl

_A/N – Much apologies for the delays in getting this story out, it took me a little time to figure out how I wanted to end it. That and my writing and art bunnies have been breeding rampantly resulting in one too many things for me to focus on. But…enough with the excuses…enjoy! ^_^_

_Disclaimer: I do not __own Transformers, nor make any money writing about them. Arc, however, belongs to me, so please do not borrow her without my permission._

_

* * *

_

Arc silently contemplated the tiny form that lay curled on the ground next to her thigh, deep in recharge. The youngling had finally succumbed to the energy drain that normally accompanied having one's emotion circuits running high and hot for an extended amount of time.

Not that she blamed the kid.

Once Sari had opened the floodgates on everything that the little femme had been through as of late, the dam had burst and she had proceeded to tell Arc her entire life's story (although the tall femme had the feeling that she omitted a few things). Not that she had lived that long of a lifecycle yet, assuming that being more tech than organic meant that she followed the laws of physics and would enjoy a Cybertronian's very long life.

Cocking her helm to the side, the teal femme tried to get a better look at the small figure that rested against her, leaving a small warm spot that contrasted strongly with the cave's cool interior. The bitling definitely had the basic structure of an organic, but Arc's highly tuned olfactory sensors picked up the distinct mechanoid scent that defined her race's exoskeleton. And there was still the mystery of her energy signature...

Frowning to herself in thought, Arc leaned back slightly on her palms, lazily watching water drip from stalactites as she ran the mystery of the techno-organic through her processor a few rounds. The kid was definitely hiding something. Both her spark pulse and energy field had reacted strongly when the visored femme had mentioned the All Spark. Part of her training and work from the distant past involved how to observe mechs and femmes for their "tell" signs. An elevated pump beat meant fear, cooled frame temperature signaled anxiety and an erratic or flaring energy field meant the bot was about to bolt. Every one of her instincts told the teal and gold femme that she was on the right track with finding the All Spark.

_But what to do next?_

The scritch scratch of metal dragging followed by a few snuffs and one big, "_whoomp_" came from her partner's chosen corner as Fang decided to make himself more comfortable on the limestone ground. The large mech beast stood up and arched his spinal column high before turning a little mini circle and flopping back to the stone floor to drop immediately back into recharge.

Shaking her pointy helm at the cyber wolf, Arc filed the mystery of the energy signature away in her memory for later assessment. She always found that she came to more correct conclusions and made better decisions when she let her thought processes 'stew' for a little while. She supposed it was a down side to having such a constantly changing set of meta data. Anything and everything could attract Arc's attention when she got right down to it making her focus a fickle thing at best. Hence why the decision to park her shuttle on this little piece of rock out in the middle of the cosmos seemed like a good idea at the time. It's not like there was anything else calling for attention at the moment, save for a few jobs that were still under consideration. No, it was more appealing to the femme to find out if the whispers that her audios had caught about certain warlords being alive and well on a planet that bore sentient organic life held a grain of truth.

So far, there was no active sign of any Con, but she_ had_ spotted several Autobots in the area and that was a good enough reason for her to stay put for the moment. Stumbling upon this little enigma during a leisurely scout of the area was simply Primus smiling upon her as he often seemed to do.

This yellow-garbed techno-organic's presence, combined with the team of Autobots apparently stationed here pointed to a high likelihood of this being Megatron's new stomping grounds. Contrary to what most Bots had been led to believe, Decepticons were not a small, disorganized group of mindless Cybertronian brutes that randomly went around terrorizing. They were just as much of a threat as the Autobots. They just had gotten the short end of the stick at the end of the Great War, and to the victor goes all (the loser is lucky if he can keep his aft plating).

A blunt nose suddenly filled her vision and Arc came back into her surroundings somewhat disjointedly to find Fang standing in front of her, golden optics intent. Breaking into a broad grin, Arc reached up and rubbed the sharp bridge of the cyber wolf's nasal ridge eliciting a low rumble from within his broad, barreled chest plates. Playfully, the beast nipped at one of her digits before sitting down promptly with an expectant look on his silver-blue faceplates (at least as expectant as those kind of face plates could be).

"What? Are you getting bored here already?" Arc asked her four-legged companion as the beast whined softly at her.

Checking her chronometer, Arc found that at least a third of the planet's normal rotation had passed, which meant that the nearby star would be lighting up this world in no time flat. Since the kid was obviously harmless enough, the femme found herself debating what exactly she should do with her. There was no way in the Pit that she was going to keep Sari by her side. The last thing in the great, wide universe that she needed was a sparkling to keep watch over. Slag no!

But the techno-organic still held her only solid link to the All Spark. If she could just win the girl's trust and find out what the little red head really knew it would make things a whole lot easier and less complicated for the both of them.

_Then again…_playing with a rounded audio, Arc fingered the data jack that lay hidden along the bottom of the gold rim. Glancing back down at the oblivious youngling, the lanky femme considered an alternative. There really was nothing to stop her from simply plugging in and slipping into the kid's memory files and pulling whatever raw information that she wanted directly. It's not as though such a new spark would have the solid firewalls that she was used to normally going up against.

After all, Arc was the best hacker this side of the universe and what better job was there for her?

* * *

The harsh crunch of asphalt beneath tires, worn loose from the elements, followed Prowl on his solitary trek along the coast of Lake St. Clair. The road was unsurprisingly deserted of travelers at this early hour, but it did nothing to improve his fouling mood.

All night the ninja bot had combed Detroit's streets and the surrounding area along with the rest of the Earth Autobots with no success. Even Sumdac had been informed of Sari's disappearance so that he could use the considerable resources at his disposal to aid in finding his missing daughter. But thus far it had all been for nothing. No trace of the girl other than her tiny footprints outside of the Autobot's base could be found and the black and gold mech was becoming increasingly worried every check-in time that passed with no encouraging word.

Frustration mounting, Prowl pulled off at the next 'scenic' rest stop and transformed back into his root mode. Placing a slender servo to his fore helm, the ninjabot attempted to soothe his throbbing processor by shutting down his optics and a few other non-essential systems. For several minutes, the only sounds in the small rest area were the rhythmic aspirations of the Autobot as he attempted to calm himself and the cool, whistling breeze that dallied along the coastline.

Focusing on the gentle trill of the wind, Prowl did his best to meditate and open his processes to the world around him.

He knew without a shadow of a doubt that Sari had truly been taken against her will. Yes, there were times when his protégé would leave without informing the rest of the team as to where she was going, what she would be doing and for how long she would be gone. This time was different, though, and the dark ninjabot knew it.

Finally, in a slightly more relaxed and even state, Prowl touched on the train of thought that he had been avoiding all night—it was _his_ fault that Sari had left the safety of their base and his side. Had he not been so harsh, had perhaps considered her limitations a little better, Sari would not be missing and in possible mortal peril.

All that the sullen ninjabot ever wanted to do was to protect the young girl however he could, including those times when he was not there. It was what had inspired him to seriously begin teaching her Circuit Su over a month and a half ago. Now Prowl wished that he had started sooner and tried harder to help Sari see the benefit to what he was trying to impart upon her young mind.

Staring out over the still, black water with its slivers of white from the waxing moon, Prowl could not help, but feel his hopelessness echoed in those dark depths.

Sharply venting a draught of air, the slender ninjabot turned on his tall, golden heel preparing to resume his search when something made him pause. Not understanding what he was looking at first, the slender mech stooped down to run gold digits lightly over the ground cover. There was an imprint in the soil there, deeply pressed into the ground as if from some heavy weight. It was right next to an imprint that his pede had just made—but it was not his.

The foot was much smaller and more rounded at the top, but without a doubt Cybertronian in origin and it cut directly across his path. Straightening up, Prowl could even see from his vantage point a faint trail that led unerringly to the lake's edge, disappearing into the softly lapping waters against the shore.

He could not believe what he happened to stumble across. One servo raised elegantly to his helm as Prowl opened a wide link to the other four members of his team.

"This is Prowl."

"_What is it, Prowl? Did you find anything?"_ Optimus' voice came through crisply in immediate response.

"I am not sure Optimus, but I believe that I have at least found a lead." Looking out over the lake in a half-conscious attempt to see anything else amiss, Prowl continued. "I am over by Lake St. Clair approximately an hour outside of Detroit. It appears that someone or something Cybertronian in nature has been frequenting the lake. I am going to further investigate it."

"_Do you need any back-up?"_ Optimus intoned and the dark ninjabot could easily picture the worried expression on his leader's faceplates that corresponded with that tone.

"I do not think that it is necessary yet, Optimus." The visual of Bumblebee and Bulkhead _loudly_ stomping around, flattening any evidence and alerting anything within a 50 mile radius of them inspired little confidence. The last thing that Prowl needed his stealth unintentionally undermined during his search for the footprint's owner.

"_Roger that, Prowl. Keep me informed__, please. Prime out."_

The connection cut and Prowl allowed himself one more calming breath before he followed the even tread into the winter-chilled waters. He found himself thanking Primus that it was not cold enough yet for the lake to be frozen over or he may never have found the trail.

* * *

Sari felt something dully press into her side before the pressure vanished. A minute ticked by before again she felt that same strange poking sensation. This time she jolted upright as the 'poke' hit a ticklish spot under her ribs. There was a soft giggle that had her head turning quickly to locate the sound and the culprit.

The femme from earlier was kneeling nearby, faceplates completely unrepentant as she poked Sari again with a slender digit in the exact same spot making the girl squeak and squirm to get out of her reach. This time the tall femme's laughter was not muffled and her source of entertainment was less than amused.

"You're pretty sensitive, aren't you girl?" Arc's mezzo-soprano voice echoed along the open cave walls.

Frowning, Sari planted two tiny fists on her slender hips before shaking her head at the larger femme in reprimand.

"Yeah, so don't do that. Don't you know better than to go around poking people?"

Arc shrugged one gold-clad should before murmuring "Sorry." Sari had the distinct impression that the femme was anything, but sorry for her actions. Her frown deepened almost into a scowl, while the other femme's seemed to only broaden under the glowing glass of her yellow visor.

"Whatever. Why did you wake me up?" The techno-organic knew a lost cause when she saw one, so she opted to ask the slender bike a more pressing question.

"Because…" One delicate digit went up in the air to dramatically emphasize, "…it's time for you to go home." The femme's grin was just as disarming as before, but Sari couldn't help, but be suspicious.

"So…you're just letting me go?" One slender red eyebrow raised in question.

"Yup!"

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"Uhm…_why_?"

Here the femme seemed a little put out and adopted a similar pose to Sari, hands braced on her curvy hips.

"I said I was going to take you home, why are you being so difficult about it?"

"I'm not. It's just…your being weird…again."

"Weird?" Now Arc was really looking mournful. "What do you mean weird? And again? That's not a very nice thing to tell somebody, you know."

"Oh, please. Are you really that upset by it?" Sari couldn't help, but roll her vibrant blue eyes.

"…"

The techno-organic had to suddenly lean forward in an attempt to try to catch what the lanky Cybertronian had just mumbled.

"What was that?"

Arc jutted out her lower lip plate before lowly mumbling (again), "Why do you have to be so _mean_?" And a magenta lower lip was quivering as if she was going to break out into tears.

The little red head threw her arms in the air in exasperation before marching right up to the teal femme and giving her the eye. Arc half-consciously leant backwards slightly from the intense focus the girl was giving her.

A staring match proceeded, although Sari wasn't entirely sure if she was making optic contact with the other—those pesky visors that certain bots liked to wear really got in the way. Then again, Prowl's visor _could_ be expressive every now and again.

_Prowl_.

The crimson locked girl blinked first, looking away with a small frown of sadness as she thought of her friends. They were probably combing the city for her by now, worried and fearful since the moment that she never reentered the base. If only she hadn't stormed out in such a huff, maybe none of this would have happened. It was strange that in such a short time she could go from wanting to tear out the vocalizer of a certain cyberninja to wanting nothing more than to hear that familiar voice—even if in the form of a lecture.

And Bumblebee who had been her first and best friend... Ever since her transformation, Sari had been doing her absolute best to avoid the mech. Being around him used to mean non-stop fun and trouble, now it just confused her.

Poke.

The tiny femme's frown quickly transformed to a scowl as she smacked away the offending digit that was still hovering in her personal space and within reach.

"Arc!"

"Aack! Sorry!"

The teal femme crossed her forearms over her helm as if expecting a smack of reprimand. As tempting as it was, Sari mused that it would be a little difficult for her to pull off, given the (you know) size difference. The techno-organic's expression suddenly morphed into an evil smirk as a thought crossed her mind.

Sure, she couldn't retaliate properly against this femme, but there were several bots that she knew who could definitely do the job right. Speaking of which…

"So…are we leaving any time soon, or was that just a bad joke?"

Shaking her helm in mock sorrow, Arc sighed. "Honestly little bot, what do I look like to you, a Con?"

Here, the femme held her long arms out to the sides, palms up and stood swiftly—all in one smooth motion—spinning herself in a quick pirouette.

Sari tried to smother the giggle that escaped her lips at the other femme's antics, but failed miserably. Arc seemed to take encouragement from this and continued her actions.

"I mean, do you think that a Decepticon could ever sport this kind of paint job?"

The smaller of the two bots shook her head from side to side in response, all the while grinning.

"I guess not. But you're not an Autobot either, so still don't fall under the 'good guys' yet."

"Fair enough. In the mean time, let's get a move on. You've got to be at least a little bit hungry by now, right?" Gently laying a hand on Sari's shoulder, the tall femme turned her towards the end of the cave where water gently lapped along one edge. Fang lifted his large muzzle from the ground and watched the two walk by.

Arc continued, "I mean, I do have some energon and pretty good stuff too, but I don't know if that is on your diet."

Tanned face scrunching up in disgust, Sari responded to the unspoken question, "No. Ratchet had me try it once when everything first happened, but…uh…it really didn't sit well with me."

"Hmm. Pity. I haven't the faintest clue what organics eat, let alone techno-organics or else I would have picked something up for you."

Shaking her head then stopping as she realized that it was turning into a habit, Sari looked down from where they had stopped at the edge of the dark water.

"Uh, how exactly do we get out of here?"

Perking up at the innocent question and completely oblivious to any discomfort, Arc smiled. "Oh, that's easy. We swim." The femme even took a few steps into the water as she spoke, but stopped when she noticed the slightly disturbed look that Sari was directing at her.

"What?"

"I really can't, you know, breathe underwater."

The teal femme had a thoughtful expression on her silver faceplates as she regarded the very worried girl, helm cocked to the side.

"You can't? Are you sure? Have you ever tried it?"

* * *

A sleek, black figure slid like some strange swamp monster through the deep, dark depths of Lake St. Clair. The lone being moved effortlessly against the mild current, so distinctly unnatural in this environment.

In the wee hours of the morn, not even a fishing boat broke the surface of the large lake that bordered a portion of Detroit, Michigan. But that was exactly what Prowl preferred. His solitude. Through the still and the quiet, he could center himself and just _feel_ the energies around him. The subtle vibrations that all living beings gave, whether organic or technological, were the ninjabot's to discern and dissect.

The taciturn mech had been running search patterns along the bottom for hours now and had yet to find either the owner of the footprints on the beach, or at least a matching set in the relatively undisturbed sand. Venting, bubbles blew free from Prowl's intakes and made a mad dash for the surface as the slender mech settled to the floor. Carefully, he tried to not disturb the loose silt as he assumed the lotus position, thumb and fourth digit together as he channeled his own energy along with that which surrounded him.

For a moment, life in the briny depth continued as usual around the statuesque bot, predatory fish darting from here and there in search of their prey by the waning moonlight.

A distinct pulse suddenly flowed through the black and gold bot's very spark and he gasped as another strong life force brushed against his own. Immediately, Prowl was very aware that he was not alone. Although the other energy acted with the purpose and direction of one skilled as he in energy manipulation, it lacked in hostility.

Its owner seemed content to merely interject itself into his own space, while maintaining a controlled distance. Then suddenly, the other life retreated quickly from his sensors and Prowl was left seated along the lake's cold bottom trying to figure out what had just happened.

With the loss of the other's presence, the ninjabot became strongly aware of two more energy signatures—one he had never met, but the other was one that he was very familiar with.

_Sari!_

Launching from his place amongst the muck on the floor, Prowl propelled himself forward via both strong kicks and his rocket pack. The quick motion left a thick cloud in his wake, but the black Autobot was unconcerned about that at the moment. All of his processes were on that one energy signature that was rapidly moving away from him.

Taking a few precious seconds to plot out the trajectory, Prowl figured that Sari was at least heading in the direction of the shore and that was as good a start as any. Perhaps that meant that she had successfully escaped her captors.

As he made strong strokes through the water that seemed to turn as thick as motor oil around his chassis, it became a less likely scenario as the minutes ticked by considering the unfamiliar second and third sparks that he could sense nearby hers. It was a small measure of comfort that, at least for the moment, the youngling seemed unharmed and alright. But still…

Prowl pushed his frame to the limits as he ignited his jet pack, chasing the trailing energy signatures that lay just outside of his reach. He couldn't lose them now.

He couldn't lose her.

* * *

_A/N__ – Believe it or not, this was supposed to be the last chapter, but my muse became a bit…wordy, so I split the last chapter into two._

_A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed/commented up into this point (including the few anonymous pokes that I received…yes, you know who you are ;). It really helps me know if I am on the right track in creating an interesting story for you. One tiny chapter to go, so please bear with me, or Arc will sick Fang on you and he has bitten mechs for much less._

_As always, reviews are appreciated, so please let me know what you think!_


	4. In which there is a Happy Ending

**Arc, Who Goes There?**(Part 4)

Transformers (Animated) Verse  
Rating: G  
Characters: Sari, Arc & Prowl

_A/N – And here it is, the last chapter of this fic, so thank you to anyone who has made it this far. ;) Hopefully I have managed to keep you somewhat amused, or at least quasi-interested._

_Disclaimer: I do not __own Transformers, nor make any money writing about them. Arc, however, belongs to me, so please do not borrow her without my permission. ^_^_

_

* * *

_

Coughs and sputters erupted from the small frame, the sounds echoing loudly in the quiet of the brisk morning air. Sari knelt on the soft, cold ground, braced on her elbows as she attempted to clear her intakes of the last bit of algae that was clinging to her insides.

A large servo rubbed her back up and down comfortingly, a strange cooing sound emitting from the tall femme who hovered over her.

"Easy kid. Just a little liquid down the wrong pipes." Arc soothed.

*_cough_* "Easy for you to say…" *_cough_* "…I think that I drank a gallon of that sludge."

Even though the gesture was lost, the teal femme bot rolled her optics under her golden visor at the youngling's petulant tone. Really. Kids these days. They get a little fluid in the wrong place and their whole world comes crashing down.

"Eh. You'll live. You would have been fine if you had just trusted me and let the water vent naturally."

Sari turned one electric blue eye at her. "Well excuse me. How was I supposed to know that I could do that?"

Shaking her head with a rueful grin, Arc tapped the side of her helm with one digit.

"I know, I know. Use my processor."

"Now you're getting it. Don't worry. It's a big change from being an ordinary organic to an ultra gear bot. You just need to learn to trust your body to know what to do."

Getting to her feet, Sari rubbed the back of her head before sighing. She really had a lot to learn about herself and it seemed like a never-ending uphill battle. A flick to the side of her head cut off her train of thought.

"Now don't go marinating on it. These things take time—just go with the flow and someday maybe you can be as cool as me."

"Heh. I'll, uh, keep that in mind." Sari grinned sardonically up at the lanky femme as she straightened out. Arc bent at the waist and made a grand gesture with her arm to the side.

"Shall we, milady?"

* * *

The red face emblazoned on the center of each of the mechs' chest plates below was not much of a surprise to Arc. Rather, it had the instantaneous reaction of putting her on the immediate defensive. A myriad of emotions surged through her core, one right after another—anger, fear, and that ever-present curiosity ranking the highest of them. The teal femme had suspected that the team of bots that Sari had told her about were Autobots. After all, it's not like the Decepticons were all that into raising younglings.

That didn't change the fact that the femme was feeling the overwhelming urge to transform and bolt out of there like a horde of Sharkticons was chomping at her heels.

The little femme perched on her shoulder guard was clueless to the internal battle that the slender femme was engaged in. But that was just as Arc would prefer it. The last thing she wanted was to unload some many-stellar-cycles-old baggage on an innocent kid.

Clearing her intakes, the teal and gold femme jostled her passenger slightly with a shrug of her shoulder plate to get the youngling's attention. Sari turned a questioning look her way and Arc tilted her turban-shaped helm in the direction of the small group of mechs gathered outside of a series of nondescript warehouses.

"Ready to go greet your adoring fans?"

Sari gave a wistful sigh before nodding once in determination. "Okay. Let's go"

Arc's expression dropped for a microsecond before carefully being replaced with a more easygoing one.

"Uhm…about that…"

"What's wrong?"

Wincing slightly the femme chanced a glance at the group a few buildings down from them. "I think it's best if Fang and I just hang here. I may not be a Con, but 'borrowing' you for the night probably won't make for the best impressions."

Sari frowned, but reluctantly nodded her acceptance of the explanation. "That still doesn't get you off the hook with me for the whole 'kidnap-thingy', you know?" The techno-organic flicked the much larger bot solidly in the audio antenna, knowing from previous (quiet) complaints made by Optimus to Ratchet that they were fairly sensitive.

Ducking her helm sheepishly, Arc nodded at the reprimand. With perfect grace, the femme easily leapt from the rooftop to the ground, as silent as a drop of rain. Gently, she lifted the small girl from her seated position and set her down on the leaf-strewn pavement.

Arms crossed across her small chest, Sari regarded the strange Cybertronian as she turned on a heeled pede and went to leap back to where her cyberwolf companion stood statuesque on the roof top, awaiting her return.

"Wait, Arc."

Arc's heart-shaped face turned at the sound of her designation, expression hopeful.

"Will I ever see you again? You know, someone needs to make sure that you keep out of trouble." Sari blinked an eye at the lanky femme bot and Arc returned the expression with a happy smile.

Reaching behind an audio receiver briefly, she withdrew her servo and held it out and down to the girl in yellow.

"Here's my comm. signal. Drop me a line if you ever…you know, need an extra audio or a friend of the non-mech persuasion to just hang out with, k?"

Sari accepted the chip held out to her—no bigger than her thumb, it had been even tinier in Arc's outstretched servo—and turned it over thoughtfully before grinning broadly at the femme.

"You bet!"

Visor blinking off in a wink, Arc grinned again and gave a jaunty salute before doing a back flip onto an overhang a few stories up, and then a second that got her the rest of the way to the top of the empty building and out of sight.

Shaking her head in amusement…then stopping mid motion, Sari let out a low breath before turning around and heading back to the circle of her closest friends. Glad to be back where she belonged, even though it took being taken away for her to fully appreciate them.

* * *

The sun had just risen and was painfully bright on the cloudless, brisk December morning. Prowl wearily returned to base doing his best to not drag his tired pedes like some errant sparkling. The cyberninja had lost Sari's energy trail as well that of the other two at the Lake and save for a few tread marks, had failed to find any more signs of the little femme.

Prowl was not was a quitter, but he knew when he needed to stop and reevaluate his current approach, then try something new. Perhaps one of the others had discovered something that had escaped his notice? That seemed very unlikely since he had received no further transmissions from the others throughout the early morning.

He had just made it to the base's entryway when a chill rushed through his lines as if coolant had been directly injected. Stiffening, the ninjabot stopped momentarily and gazed out of the corner of his visor. His sensors revealed nothing, which was both aggravating and alarming. Someone or something was evading his hypersensitive cyberninja senses, even though he could feel the beat of their spark close by.

Something flashed in his peripheral and the Autobot turned his head instinctually towards the source catching what looked to be blue-green plating. It took the slender mech less than a second to turn fully around, but to his dismay their was nothing to see and the spark was no longer registering to him.

A small frown formed on his lips as he looked thoughtfully at where he knew that he had caught of glimpse of sleek metal. Deciding that it was worth investigating as this individual felt inclined to sneak around their base and was therefore obviously not a friend, Prowl placed one black boot in front of the other…and was stopped cold in his tracks.

Light peals of laughter came from within the Autobot's makeshift base accompanied by various lower (and louder) laughs.

Spark clenching, Prowl practically raced through the doors and only managed at the last moment to compose himself before he burst into the main living space. He found his team assembled around the makeshift couch in high spirits, Sari sitting primly at the center of them all.

He must have made some noise that gave him away (perhaps it was the sharp _clack_ of his clenched denta as Prowl did his best to rein in his wavering emotions.

In the end, though, it really did not matter and the ninjabot figured that it was probably for the best. The minute that Sari's turquoise eyes locked on Prowl's presence, she leapt from the midst of the others and did not stop until she had both of her skinny arms wrapped around one of the cyberninja's black legs. For a breath, nobody in that room moved as they more than likely waited for something to either implode in Prowl's cranium at the unexpected physical contact or burst in the tiny femme that was hiding her face against the cool, jet black metal she clutched.

"Sari."

Looking up from where she hugged him, Prowl was surprised to see glistening fluid pooling in her optics as Sari gave him a watery smile.

"I'm sorry for being mad at you earlier, Prowl, and I'm sorry that I worried you…all of you guys." She said this, turning to look at the other Autobots, but not relinquished her hold just yet on her mentor. "Can you ever forgive me?"

A large hand cupped her back and Sari turned to see a faint smile on the dark Autobot's normally stoic faceplates.

"There is nothing to forgive. I am just glad that you are safe and home."

* * *

_A/N__ – Yay! Happy ending…at least for now. I really am sorry it took me this long to update/complete this story. I would like to say that my muse made me do it, but that would be a stretch. Hopefully some of you have at least slightly enjoyed this story._

_My true intent for this was for it to be an introductory piece to my OC Arc's Arc. The stories that follow this one are mostly one-ups that feature a bit more action, adventure and romance, so please stay tuned. I promise to have the next one up soon (Where There's an Arc, There's a Way)._

_Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, fav'd, alerted and all of that good stuff. As always, constructive comments are greatly appreciated and desired. Ciao for now!_


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